Gainesville Restaurant Guide
Cafe Gardens
(15 ratings)
(352) 376-2233
1643 Nw 1st Ave, Gainesville, FL 32603
Dining Specials
Vale Food Co
American
Underground Kitchen
Restaurant Description
American. Tasty burgers, awesome sweet potato fries, fresh fish everyday, filling salads, amazing portabellas and tempeh. Import beer of the day for 2.29! Happy hour 4-7, $1 off pitchers and glasses of wine.
June 7, 2009 @ 12:43 PM
a diner from Lake City, FL
I have been eating here for years, and have had mixed experiances but nothing horrible. Service can range from good not great to so so. I have never had to wait for 15 min to be served as some have said but at times my drink may go dry before I get a refill. Food is usually really good the sweet potato fries are super as are the onion rings. I always get the blue moom burger, if you like bleu chees then you should try it. The value is ok, I hate busy, loud and crowded resteraunts so the quiet peacfull outdoor dining is great and worth the extra money with that said its not an expensive place to eat but if you upgrade your food then it adds up quick. My bleu moon burger is around $8 and comes with corn chips, as all the burgers and sandwitches do, real sides are extra sweet potato fries are $2.50 extra but to me they are worth it, I also like bacon on the burger and it is $1 extra. so that make a $8 burger a very good $11.50 one. Of course you are going to want to get onion rings for an starter as they are the best around, they are $4.50 which is a very reasonable price as you get alot of them. So with average or better service good food and mediocer value, give them a try you probly won't be disapointed.
March 3, 2009 @ 10:28 AM
a diner from Gainesville, FL
I have eaten at this restaurant at least once every week for the last five years and now i would like to take a stab at a review, as well as, comment on the previous reviews. The service is always a little sluggish. They do seem to employ a good number of college students as waitresses, but that shouldn't be an excuse. However, with college students there is a lot of turnover, so I'm sure that it is hard to keep the well trained for too long. With the majority clientele being students, I'm sure the tips usually suck, which wouldn't attract great waitresses. Now for the food portion. The food I have had there is always above standard and pretty fresh. I know that they make all orders as they come in, so that might explain the sometimes slowness of the food reaching my table, but I have never eaten anything there I didn't like. All the burgers and chickens I have had there have been outstanding, and the sweet potato fries would make you slap your mama in the mouth, they're so good. The pasta salad is fantastic, the roast beef is hit or miss, anything with the guacamole on it is terrific, and the soups, on occasion, would piss off Campbell's for not thinking of them first. (Side note: sometimes the soups would piss off Campbell's for being called soups though). I usually only come in for lunch on Tuesdays and sometimes there is a line out the door and sometimes it's a ghost town, so occasionally it might seem understaffed, but I would guess it's hard to gauge business with it being a cafe style restaurant in Florida. The few nights I have come in, the live music usually is terrible, so I am assuming that one of the previous reviewer's friends was one of them. If I had to stand out there where the hostesses do, I would probably rather be inside eating at the bar too. There was a day when a bluegrass band played there that I would have paid to see, but overall, I wouldn't go there for the live music. For the reviewer that said that they were just sitting at a table watching their friend, I would have wanted you to leave too. Waitresses work on tips bud, table turnover is key. All in all, I will continue to dine at Cafe Gardens and will not care if you do because my food will come out faster if you're not there. I would recommend this place to anybody who likes great food in a quaint, local atmosphere.
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Cafe Gardens Reviews
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Read More: Gainesville Restaurant Reviews
Avg Rating:
Number of Reviews: 15
June 7, 2009 @ 12:43 PM
a diner from Lake City, FL
I have been eating here for years, and have had mixed experiances but nothing horrible. Service can range from good not great to so so. I have never had to wait for 15 min to be served as some have said but at times my drink may go dry before I get a refill. Food is usually really good the sweet potato fries are super as are the onion rings. I always get the blue moom burger, if you like bleu chees then you should try it. The value is ok, I hate busy, loud and crowded resteraunts so the quiet peacfull outdoor dining is great and worth the extra money with that said its not an expensive place to eat but if you upgrade your food then it adds up quick. My bleu moon burger is around $8 and comes with corn chips, as all the burgers and sandwitches do, real sides are extra sweet potato fries are $2.50 extra but to me they are worth it, I also like bacon on the burger and it is $1 extra. so that make a $8 burger a very good $11.50 one. Of course you are going to want to get onion rings for an starter as they are the best around, they are $4.50 which is a very reasonable price as you get alot of them. So with average or better service good food and mediocer value, give them a try you probly won't be disapointed.
March 3, 2009 @ 10:28 AM
a diner from Gainesville, FL
I have eaten at this restaurant at least once every week for the last five years and now i would like to take a stab at a review, as well as, comment on the previous reviews. The service is always a little sluggish. They do seem to employ a good number of college students as waitresses, but that shouldn't be an excuse. However, with college students there is a lot of turnover, so I'm sure that it is hard to keep the well trained for too long. With the majority clientele being students, I'm sure the tips usually suck, which wouldn't attract great waitresses. Now for the food portion. The food I have had there is always above standard and pretty fresh. I know that they make all orders as they come in, so that might explain the sometimes slowness of the food reaching my table, but I have never eaten anything there I didn't like. All the burgers and chickens I have had there have been outstanding, and the sweet potato fries would make you slap your mama in the mouth, they're so good. The pasta salad is fantastic, the roast beef is hit or miss, anything with the guacamole on it is terrific, and the soups, on occasion, would piss off Campbell's for not thinking of them first. (Side note: sometimes the soups would piss off Campbell's for being called soups though). I usually only come in for lunch on Tuesdays and sometimes there is a line out the door and sometimes it's a ghost town, so occasionally it might seem understaffed, but I would guess it's hard to gauge business with it being a cafe style restaurant in Florida. The few nights I have come in, the live music usually is terrible, so I am assuming that one of the previous reviewer's friends was one of them. If I had to stand out there where the hostesses do, I would probably rather be inside eating at the bar too. There was a day when a bluegrass band played there that I would have paid to see, but overall, I wouldn't go there for the live music. For the reviewer that said that they were just sitting at a table watching their friend, I would have wanted you to leave too. Waitresses work on tips bud, table turnover is key. All in all, I will continue to dine at Cafe Gardens and will not care if you do because my food will come out faster if you're not there. I would recommend this place to anybody who likes great food in a quaint, local atmosphere.
December 9, 2008 @ 2:19 PM
a diner from Gainesville, FL
I worked here when I first moved to Gainesville and I totally agree with everyone who says the service sucks. I was a hostess and got very tired of having to track down servers playing frisbee in the back alley, or stand and wait for them to finish a conversation, in order to tell them I'd given them a table. I also got snubbed for my perceived snobbishness in standing at the host stand during my shift instead of sitting at the bar and eating. When I saw one waitress do a tableside wine presentation that involved putting the bottle on a nearby table and wrangling the cork out with a giant mechanical rabbit-ear corkscrew, I decided that I didn't care if I ever moved up to server, and quit. That said, the food is always pretty tasty, and the kitchen is very clean. Eat here only if you really don't mind the slow, erratic, condescending service.
November 1, 2008 @ 11:16 AM
a diner from gainesville, fl
I cannot believe the service that I was given at this restaurant. We were sitting at the table for over 15 min before anyone came to get our drinks. After we got our drinks it was another 10 min before she came to take our order. I ordered a French dip sandwich (roast beef and melted cheese) and my friend ordered a grilled chicken sandwich with guacamole and cheese. 15 min later the server came back to the table to tell me that there was no more roast beef so I ordered a turkey sandwich with cheese & asked for the sandwich to be pressed (like the French dip). She said they could do that. 15 min later she came back with a chicken sandwich with marinara sauce & cheese and my cold turkey sandwich. Both my friend and I pointed out this was the wrong chicken sandwich and my turkey sandwich was not hot. She took the sandwiches back to be fixed but left us the sweet potato fries since we had waited so long and were starving at this point. My friend and I munched on our cold fries while we waited for the sandwiches to reappear. My sandwich came back hot, and my friend got her chicken sandwich fixed (but there was still marinara on her bun, and her sandwich was supposed to come on a pita…but they ran out & the server forgot to tell us that). So we each paid $8 for our sandwiches plus $2.50 for sweet potato fries…NOT WORTH IT. I will never go back.
July 11, 2008 @ 4:55 AM
a diner from Gainesville, Fl
Cafe Gardens used to be a great place to hang out, enjoy finger food, and listen to good music. The service is, and always was, terrible, the worst in a town known for bad service. I used to play in a band there. The management used to actually get mad that our friends came and stayed and ate and drank--the reason? They didn't leave so others could sit down and do the same. We always filled the place when we played, and they complained. Now the service is worse than ever. I was just there tonight to hear a friend of mine, a very good musician, play. I was there for nearly two hours, and didn't get waited on once. I went inside to get a beer (I've come to expect having to do that.) No one was tending the bar. After a couple of minutes one of the people sitting at the bar got up and asked me what I wanted. I said, in an astoundingly nice way under the circumstances, that I wanted to be waited on. A bartender got up and got me a beer. I handed her $5.00 and she took it and said "thank you." I asked her how much the beer was and she said she'd look it up. She was, of course, expecting me to give her a $1.50 tip for her trouble. She got nothing, and I wasn't waited on the rest of the evening. This is typical service at the Cafe. I have watched a place that has one of the best locations in town go downhill. It was once a thriving business, but as word gets around how bad the service is, it has sort of self-destructed. I won't go back, even to see my friends play.
April 25, 2008 @ 2:36 PM
a diner from Gainesville, FL
This is your typical gainesville restaurant: mediocre grilled food for the student population who don't know a real restaurant and staffed by the local student population. There's also cheap beer, but there's a liquir store next door, so how cheap is debateable.
The service is terrible. The restaurant is understaffed and they are more preoccupied with their college drama than getting an order right, actually noticing that you're still at your table, or even figuring out how to split the tab. The food is typical of what you'd find at Applebee's or Ruby Tuesday, i.e. boring and hard to mess up.
The location is right across from the Swamp, so parking is impossible (another sign of a typical Gainesville restaurant).
With that said, I spent 18 dollars on a lot of beer an average burger and soggy fries. A chain restaurant would have charged me double. I guess that's worth something.
The service is terrible. The restaurant is understaffed and they are more preoccupied with their college drama than getting an order right, actually noticing that you're still at your table, or even figuring out how to split the tab. The food is typical of what you'd find at Applebee's or Ruby Tuesday, i.e. boring and hard to mess up.
The location is right across from the Swamp, so parking is impossible (another sign of a typical Gainesville restaurant).
With that said, I spent 18 dollars on a lot of beer an average burger and soggy fries. A chain restaurant would have charged me double. I guess that's worth something.
November 13, 2007 @ 3:12 PM
a diner from Gainesville, FL
I love Cafe Gardens. I do not know what a previous reviewer was talking about when they said that they only accepted cash... the system must have been down or something, because I have been there so many times and used a card. The food is great - especially the burgers. I always have the hardest time deciding what to get because everything is sooo good. The sweet potato fries are out of this world. Great beer specials too! The service has always been great, no complaints there. It is nice to be able to sit outside in a low key area. I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone.
September 16, 2007 @ 1:03 PM
a diner from gainesville, fl
They only accept cash. They didn't tell us until after it was too late. What kind of junk is that?
January 31, 2007 @ 11:25 AM
a diner from Gainesville, FL
I would love to eat here. Unfortunately, I had to leave after sitting at a table for 20 minutes and not getting a drink, a menu or any sort of acknowledgement.
I noticed another table leave rght before us. They didn't get anyone to wait on them either.
I noticed another table leave rght before us. They didn't get anyone to wait on them either.
January 16, 2007 @ 8:12 PM
a diner from Gainesville, FL
This is one of my favorite places in Gainesville. it has very little to do with Greek life (unlike neighboring Swamp). also, anywhere with beer specials that include Red Stripe...count me in. I had the French Dip, and it was wonderful, the accompanying fries were delicious too. For sure, going back.
November 20, 2006 @ 10:00 AM
a diner from Gainesville, FL.
Dined there Sunday afternoon, The food was terrible and the service was worse, I watched customer after customer told they would not seat anyone else before 3:30 and they closed at 4:00. The hamburger was under cooked and tasteless, the fries looked freezer burned and greasy. Will not go back
May 8, 2006 @ 5:58 PM
a diner from gainesville, fl.
Great ambience. A little lacking with the rickety tables & plastic chairs. Very diversified burger joint, but fun place to sit outside and enjoy your friends and watch the passers by. Service is good. But the accompaniments like the steak fries definetly need improvement. All in all a nice place to just hang out. Stay away from the warm draft beer. It tends to be a bit skunky.
March 31, 2006 @ 1:45 PM
a diner from Gainesville, FL
As long time patron of this restaurant, we are disappointed with the last visit. They really need to add more waiters for their lunch crowd, especially with what seems like an expansion of their outside dining. Our waitress was excellent but far too busy for all the tables she had to serve.
They also need umbrellas on ALL tables as it is hot in the noon time sun and the hostess who seated us ignored our request for shady seating.
Overall the food was excellent as always, but since much of their lunch business seems to be from UF staff on lunch like our group it shouldn't take 2 hrs and 15 minutes to eat lunch. We are usually a group of 6 or 8 and in the past year we've seen the wait time for being served increase greatly.
Also, lose the new policy of not splitting up checks for parties of more than 6, it's not that hard to do.
They also need umbrellas on ALL tables as it is hot in the noon time sun and the hostess who seated us ignored our request for shady seating.
Overall the food was excellent as always, but since much of their lunch business seems to be from UF staff on lunch like our group it shouldn't take 2 hrs and 15 minutes to eat lunch. We are usually a group of 6 or 8 and in the past year we've seen the wait time for being served increase greatly.
Also, lose the new policy of not splitting up checks for parties of more than 6, it's not that hard to do.
February 16, 2006 @ 2:12 PM
a diner from gainesville, fl
fabulous food, not fast, but everything was made from scratch and seemed so healthy. great place for a vegetarian or a meat eater.
January 7, 2006 @ 10:21 AM
a diner from Gainesville, FL
I love the fried mushrooms for an appetizer and the spinach wrap for an entree.
Cafe Gardens Map
Recent Cafe Gardens Reviews
June 7, 2009 @ 12:43 PM
a diner from Lake City, FL
I have been eating here for years, and have had mixed experiances but nothing horrible. Service can range from good not great to so so. I have never had to wait for 15 min to be served as some have said but at times my drink may go dry before I get a refill. Food is usually really good the sweet potato fries are super as are the onion rings. I always get the blue moom burger, if you like bleu chees then you should try it. The value is ok, I hate busy, loud and crowded resteraunts so the quiet peacfull outdoor dining is great and worth the extra money with that said its not an expensive place to eat but if you upgrade your food then it adds up quick. My bleu moon burger is around $8 and comes with corn chips, as all the burgers and sandwitches do, real sides are extra sweet potato fries are $2.50 extra but to me they are worth it, I also like bacon on the burger and it is $1 extra. so that make a $8 burger a very good $11.50 one. Of course you are going to want to get onion rings for an starter as they are the best around, they are $4.50 which is a very reasonable price as you get alot of them. So with average or better service good food and mediocer value, give them a try you probly won't be disapointed.
March 3, 2009 @ 10:28 AM
a diner from Gainesville, FL
I have eaten at this restaurant at least once every week for the last five years and now i would like to take a stab at a review, as well as, comment on the previous reviews. The service is always a little sluggish. They do seem to employ a good number of college students as waitresses, but that shouldn't be an excuse. However, with college students there is a lot of turnover, so I'm sure that it is hard to keep the well trained for too long. With the majority clientele being students, I'm sure the tips usually suck, which wouldn't attract great waitresses. Now for the food portion. The food I have had there is always above standard and pretty fresh. I know that they make all orders as they come in, so that might explain the sometimes slowness of the food reaching my table, but I have never eaten anything there I didn't like. All the burgers and chickens I have had there have been outstanding, and the sweet potato fries would make you slap your mama in the mouth, they're so good. The pasta salad is fantastic, the roast beef is hit or miss, anything with the guacamole on it is terrific, and the soups, on occasion, would piss off Campbell's for not thinking of them first. (Side note: sometimes the soups would piss off Campbell's for being called soups though). I usually only come in for lunch on Tuesdays and sometimes there is a line out the door and sometimes it's a ghost town, so occasionally it might seem understaffed, but I would guess it's hard to gauge business with it being a cafe style restaurant in Florida. The few nights I have come in, the live music usually is terrible, so I am assuming that one of the previous reviewer's friends was one of them. If I had to stand out there where the hostesses do, I would probably rather be inside eating at the bar too. There was a day when a bluegrass band played there that I would have paid to see, but overall, I wouldn't go there for the live music. For the reviewer that said that they were just sitting at a table watching their friend, I would have wanted you to leave too. Waitresses work on tips bud, table turnover is key. All in all, I will continue to dine at Cafe Gardens and will not care if you do because my food will come out faster if you're not there. I would recommend this place to anybody who likes great food in a quaint, local atmosphere.
